


Concentrated Fear

by awfulq



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), The Yogscast
Genre: Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Existential Crisis, F/M, Magic, Mutual Pining, Not RPF, Panic Attacks, Self-Indulgent, Trans Female Character, Trans Male Character, bi rights
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-23
Updated: 2019-11-23
Packaged: 2021-02-26 22:08:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21536257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awfulq/pseuds/awfulq
Summary: Witchery is harrowing, Nano often thought to herself as she worked. Especially with a numbskull of an assistant like Lalna messing around with things he didn't quite understand. It wasn't uncommon to wake up from a comfy nap to the sound of Lalna swearing frantically and overreacting to something breaking or causing small damage. It was annoying, but she was used to it.That's why it was so surprising to wake up in the middle of the night to screams of legitimate terror coming from the kitchen.
Relationships: Duncan Jones/Kim Richards, Lalna/Nano, its not actually the real people but you know. ao3 tags.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 21





	Concentrated Fear

Witchery is harrowing, Nano often thought to herself as she worked. Especially with a numbskull of an assistant like Lalna messing around with things he didn't quite understand. It wasn't uncommon to wake up from a comfy nap to the sound of Lalna swearing frantically and overreacting to something breaking or causing small damage. It was annoying, but she was used to it.

That's why it was so surprising to wake up in the middle of the night to screams of legitimate terror coming from the kitchen. Nano shot out of bed, still in her pajamas, and raced down to the kitchen barefoot to find Lalna, hunched on the floor next to a broken bottle, clutching his head and practically sobbing.

"Lalna, what-- What happened?!" she ran to his side, placing a hand on his shoulder for just a moment- before he flinched away, falling backwards onto his hands.

"I-I-- N-Nano, I--" his eyes darted towards the broken bottle, then to the fridge, then to her.

Then she remembered. She had brought some of her witchery things into the kitchen to use the oven and... Left a bottle of concentrated fear in the fridge. Right next to the milk, too! She mentally slapped herself. She didn't know how to fix this, and Lalna... Poor guy, he didn't even know what was going on.

"Hey, hey," Nano brought her voice to a whisper, "Shhhshh, hey, it's okay buddy- You're gonna be okay." She reached out a hand to him slowly, trying her best not to freak him out. He looked at her with wild eyes, like a hurt animal, scooting away a little.

"Wh-what's happening, Nano?! I-- Did you c-curse me?! Did-- Did Lomadia??" He couldn't stop shaking. It felt like a panic attack, but ten times worse. He hadn't panicked this badly since- Since he didn't know when. He couldn't think. The worst part was the crying, definitely, he hated crying in front of people, especially Nano. Oh, god, he was thinking too much. He was so annoying. He was being the worst friend in the world.

Nano watched as he curled up into a ball, her heart sinking. She had no idea how to help him. She knew he was anxious a lot, but adding the concentrated fear to that... Oh dear.

"Give.. give me one second, Lal, I can fix this..." she assured, backing away slowly, before darting back upstairs.

She rummaged through the chest by his bed- she knew it had to be in there somewhere. She had seen it once, when he thought she was asleep, a ratty old blanket covered in patterns of dinosaurs. She pulled it out of the bottom of the chest at last, shaking it out a little. It was far too small to be used as an actual blanket anymore, but he must keep it for a reason. She rushed back downstairs, and then slowly entered the kitchen.

"Lal, buddy? I, uh, gotcha something," she held up the blanket, though he didn't look up. She sighed, tiptoed over, and placed it on his shoulders. She saw him tense, and grab it, finally looking up, almost throwing it far away, but then he stopped. He saw what it was, and for a moment, just... Looked at it, before clutching it to his chest, sobbing into it. His shoulders shook, and it was a little jarring for Nano to see. She had seen him freak out plenty of times, but never like this. It made her heart hurt.

Slowly, very slowly, his breathing became a little steadier. Nano brought him a glass of cold water, which he took and sipped from occasionally.

She could tell that the effect was starting to go away, but it wouldn't be as instant as it was supposed to. She sat down next to him, reaching to put her hand on his shoulder again. He didn't flinch this time.

"S...sorry," he sniffled, breath still shaky. "I..I didn't... M-mean to fr-freak out on you..." He still felt awful.

"Oh, Lalna, no... It isn't your fault, and I wouldn't be upset even if it was." She sighed, rubbing his shoulder. "It's my fault. I.. left a bottle of concentrated fear next to the milk. You must have drank it... I'm sorry."

Lalna laughed a little nervously, awkwardly, wryly. "I guess I p-picked a bad night for a m-midnight snack, huh?" He smiled, but it wasn't funny.

"What were you even doing awake...?" Nano asked softly, frowning. She knew that he sometimes had trouble sleeping, and used to pass out on the floor after days of being awake before she showed up.

His fake smile fell. "I c-couldn't sleep." He looked down. "F-for a lot of reasons. P-paranoia, existential cr-crisis, dysphoria... Y'know." He'd been having a few crises since finding the lab under his old castle, and running into a different version of himself.

Nano hugged him tight. She knew how those things felt. She wished she hadn't left that brew in the fridge.

"I'm sorry. Really, really sorry," she apologized into his shirt. She felt just terrible. "I.. I'm here for you, okay?" It felt cheesy to say out loud, but she cared about him so much. Sure, she got mad at him sometimes, but she couldn't stay mad. He just made some mistakes, after all, and he was really very sweet. "Whatever you need, I'm here."

She wondered if he knew how much she cared. She hoped not.

"...Thanks, Nano," he sighed, finally breathing evenly. He wondered if she knew how he felt about her. 

He hoped not.

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the scene in Flux Buddies 2.0 where Lalna drinks a brew of the grotesque and it actually has an effect on him, leading me to wonder if other Witchery mod substances would have the same effect.  
> Both Lalna and Nano are trans and bi, you can't change my mind.


End file.
